Currently the electronic locks in market are mainly classified into two categories: for an electronic lock of one category, the lock body itself is provided with a power source used to supply electricity, and a lock of this category has two major disadvantages: (1) since the lock has a battery therein, it is necessary to replace the battery periodically, leading to high maintenance cost; (2) because the battery is disposed in the lock body, the volume of the lock is relatively large, making it impossible for the lock to be applied to products such as a padlock, a suitcase lock, and so on. For an electronic lock of the other category, there is no power source in the lock body, and the power source required to unlock the lock is supplied by a key, thus, the volume of the lock cylinder of the lock belonging to this category is reduced compared with that of the electronic lock described in the first category. Defects remain yet exist in the following aspects for the electronic lock cylinder of this category:
(1) Rotation of the electronic lock cylinder is driven by a motor, and the volume of the motor is relatively large, therefore, the volume of the electronic lock cylinder cannot be further reduced, moreover, the motor has the disadvantage of a slow response speed.
(2) Driving devices (such as a motor) for the electronic lock cylinder usually adopt a method of using a key to supply electricity to the lock cylinder and provide the stored authority data, and cutting off the electricity after continuingly supplying electricity for 5 to 10 seconds. Such method always wastes lots of electric energy, and the battery disposed in the key needs to be replaced frequently, which greatly decreases the unlocking number of times with the key.
(3) Unlocking record made by the key or the electronic lock cylinder is not accurate enough, since each time the key is inserted into the electronic lock cylinder, it will be recorded as unlocking once after the contacts of the key contact with the electronic contacts of the electronic lock cylinder, without considering whether the lock is unlocked or not, therefore, resulting in that the unlocking activities cannot be recorded correctly.